Adjusting means for beater rolls



June 11, 1929. R. WOOD ADJUSTING MEANS FOR BEATER ROLLS Filed March 15 1927 Patented June 11, 1929.

UNHTED FFICE.

RALPH WOOD, OF CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO- SCOTT PAPER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

ADJUSTING MEANS FOR BEATER ROLLS.

Application filed March 15, 1927. Serial No. 175,513.

The object of my invention is to provide washing and commutating engines employed in the preparation of rags and fibrous material in the process of making paper pulp wlth means for supporting and adjusting the beater roll thereof relatively to or from the stationary bed plate having a plurality of blades arranged side by side and over which the beater is rotated, the means for provid ing the adjustment of the beater having, in connection'therewith, means for indicating the extent of the adjustment and, preferably, also the time at which the various adjustments take place, whereby accurate adjustments of predetermined extents may be assured and preferably, moreover, caused to take place at definite intervals of time.

With the above and other objects in view, the nature of which will be more fully understood from the description hereinafter, the invention consists in the novel construction of adjusting means for beater rolls, as hereinafter more fully described and defined in the claims.

Referring to the drawing; Fig. 1 is a side elevation, with part in section, of a washing and commutating engine for paper making;

, Fig. 2 is a plan View illustrating the beater roll and its supporting and adjusting means; Fig. 3 isan enlarged elevation showing the details of the adjusting and indicating means; and Fig. 4 is a plan view of the same.

2 represents the usual vat forming an endless raceway about an intermediate vertical diaphragm portion 2, one portion of said raceway being provided with a dam 4 fitted at its lower part with fixed transverse blades 3 forming the bed plate and over and in conjunction with which the beater roll 5, having the usual radial cutters arranged in pairs longitudinally of the roll, said cutters of the beater co-acting with the cutters of the bed plate 3 to tear, cut and subdivide the rags or pulp forming fiber to the desired degree of fineness.

In practice, the revolving beater is suspended above the cutter bed plate with provision for a vertical adjustment so that the interval between the cutters of the beater and cutters of the bed plate may be greatly diminished as the rags or fiber are commu-.

tatcd, varying according to the degree of commutation required. The revolving beater keeps the water and materials circulating through the endless raceway. During the operation, the water is constantly being changed to secure the washing operation simultaneously with the commutating of the.

other ends of said bars are simultaneously adjusted in a vertical direction by worm and worm wheel devices now to be described.

The screw threaded rods 12 are each provided with a worm wheel nut 14 having its hub 13 resting upon the top of the pedestal 11, and said worm Wheel nut is rotated by a worm 15 secured to a manually operable shaft 16. This shaft extends across the machine and simultaneously operates both of the worms 15 so that each of the screw threaded bars 12 are raised and lowered simultaneously and to the same extent. In this manner, the beater roll may be adjusted to enable .it to be brought gradually nearer to the bed plate cutters 3 as thecommutation is proceeded with, the adjustments being made at intervals as may be required from an examination of the product being produced. The weight of the beater roll shaft and lighter bars is sutficient to hold the beater roll downward into proper operating relation with the bed plate and yet permit it to rise slightly in case of any severe derangement, but normally, no such rising is intended. As it is not possible to accurately determine the extent of separation between the cutters of the beater roll and those of the bed plate, I provide indicator mechanism for not only indicating the extent of such separation, but also recording the time periods at which successive adjustments are made, and consequently the time of operation of the beater between successive adjustments. To accomphsh these results, I provide one of the worm wheels 14 at the top with a flange 17 upon "should be such that approximately one revolution of the worm wheel 14 and the cam 19 carried thereby will lower the beater roll to the maximum extent.

22 is a clock operated recording device and I 23 is the dial card which is rotated at the normal speed of a clock or at any other speed, provided the dial is marked with radial lines indicating spaces or movements which would correspond to hours. 27 is the pen or pencil which traces the adjustment indications upon the dial card as it rotates and said pen or pencil 27 is carried by the long arm 25 of a bell crank lever 24 pivoted at 26 and having a contact roller or other means 28 to be actuatedby the cam 19 against the action of a spring 29. By this means, the times of adjustment and the extent of the adjustments made by the at tendant will be definitely recorded and may be duplicated in further treatments. The adj ustinents by means of the slot 21 and clamping screw 20, in connection with the adjustable cam 19 and its plate 18, is provided to compensate for wear of the beater roll and bed plate knives, so that at all times the recorder may be adjusted to start recording at a definite distance apart of the knives .of the beater roll from the bed plate; and

it will further be understood that the normal adjustment of the beater as to initial distance from the bed plate may be secured by the adjustment of the nuts 9 said adj ustments being made as a fixed adjustment which is never changed excepting when readjustment is required for wear or when the devices are being originally assembled.

In the operation of a machine of this character, the attendant is given printed instructions as to how to set the beater roll in relation to the fixed bed plate at the start of the operation and also as to what adjustments are to be made from time to time, for example, that it shall be lowered a sixteenth of an inch after running at the initial position for a definite number of hours, and again a further lowering of another sixteenth of an inch after a certain continued operation, and so on. These degrees of adjustment and the time periods between which the machine is to run are definitely predetermined, and the failure,

on the part of the attendant to follow those instructions, is instantly indicated by the recorder. Not only are the times of operations recorded, but likewise, the amount of the adjustment at each of the periods is also recorded. It is desirable that the cam 19 shall have substantially equal degrees of rise with equal degrees of'circumferential adjustment, compensation being allowed for the swing-0f the arm 24 of the recorder.

It will be observed that both of the screw threaded rods 12 are simultaneously raised and lowered by rotation of the hand operated shaft 16 and the worm and worm wheel con nections, but it is only necessary to provide the recording means in connection with the mechanism of one of said screw threaded rods. In the particular construction shown, the assumption is that one complete revolution will suffice for all of the adjustments which are necessary in raising and lowering the beater roll, for where there is any material compensation for wear required, the special hand adjustment parts 9 and 9 are available for such adjustments. If a very fine pitch is employed in connection with the screw threaded bars 12, and wherein more than one revolution of the worm wheels 14 were necessary to secure the maximum adjustment required, the cam 19 may be rotated in any other way so long as it is properly geared to the rod 12, and I, therefore, do not restrict myself to the precise construction shown.

It will now be apparent that I have devised a novel and useful construction which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable, and while I have in the present instance shown and described the preferred embodiment thereof which has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that I do not restrict myself to the details, as the same are susceptible of modification in various particulars without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1s:

1. In a machine of the character stated, the combination of a beater roll and supporting means therefor with means for adjusting and recording the extent of the adjustment, com prising a screw threaded rod, a worm wheel constituting anut screwed upon the screw threaded rod, a worm and worm shaft for rotating the worm wheel upon the screw threaded rod, means for supporting'the worm wheel against movement in the direction of the screw threaded rod, a cam secured to and moving with the worm wheel, and a record ing instrument having recording means operated by the cam.

2. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the cam is adjustably secured to the worm wheel with capacity for circumferential adjustment thereto to compensate for wear of the knives of the beater roll, and so that the recorder may record accurately for the extent of adjustment of the beater roll, notwithstanding the extent of wear of the knives thereof.

3. The invention according to claim 1,

wheiein further, the cam has a circular opi crating surface the elevations of the cam being parallel to the axis of the screw threaded rod and worm wheel.

4. In a machine of the character stated, a heater roll journaled in two widely separated lighter bars one of the ends of said lighter bars provided with independent means for adjusting the height of the lighter bars and the beater roll, in combination with means connected with the opposite ends of the lighter bars for raising and lowering the same, and hand operable means for simultaneously operating both of the last mentioned means, whereby both of the last mentioned lighter bar ends are simultaneously adjusted to the same extent for gradually adjusting the beater roll vertically to predetermined extents, and wherein further, rotat ing cam means are provided with the raising and lowering means, and recording means operated by the cam means to record the extent of adjustment of the beater roll.

In testimony of which invention, I hereunto set my hand.

RALPH wooD. 

